Clearly, there was no more cost-effective solution than simply bringing the first generation's designers back to GAMENOVA in one package.
There was just one tiny little problem. Shigeki Morimoto, the designer of Mew and a Pokémon consultant, was currently about the same age as Carmack and Ken Sugimori, the lead illustrator and designer of numerous Pokémon, was only slightly older, just nineteen years old.
Travel all the way to Japan just to whisk away two young men who weren't even twenty yet?
That would probably land him on the front page of the news as some kind of overseas recruitment trafficker. Even so, this trip to Japan was still necessary.
Early that morning. While waiting for his visa to be processed, Ethan sat under the sun with several Japanese dictionaries in his arms, dragging out the pronunciations as he read aloud.
As he continued reading, the experience bar slowly filled to the end.
[You gained insight from reading the Japanese Language Dictionary. Experience +1.]
[Ding!]
[Skill Obtained:]
[The Art of Language (Japanese)]: [You have gained a basic command of Japanese, reducing communication barriers during conversations.]
Along with the system notification, which he hadn't heard in quite some time, the scattered, unsystematic knowledge of the Japanese syllabary in his mind suddenly became crystal clear.
Even the pronunciation changes that he had only vaguely understood before now made perfect sense. He wasn't at the level of a native speaker yet, but he had at least crossed the threshold. However, before Ethan could stop, the system notification sounded once again.
[Ding!]
[[The Art of Language] × [The Art of Language (Japanese)] synergy activated.]
[Skill Fusion:]
[The Art of Language (Universal)]: [Greatly increases learning efficiency for languages (including both natural and programming languages).]
"Huh? That's a thing?"
This was the first time Ethan had ever triggered the so-called skill fusion mechanic.
Well, it made sense. They were both languages, after all. Talking to machines was communication, and talking to people was communication too.
Judging from the description, though, the fused skill was clearly stronger than the two separate ones.
"Not bad. Learned another trick."
It looked like spending spare time training different skills would never be a bad investment.
As he turned and walked back into the apartment, he heard equally awkward Japanese chanting coming from Sam's room.
Naturally, it was Sam reading aloud. After all, they were traveling overseas to negotiate business. Without Sam accompanying him, handling many matters would become a real headache.
So, despite still being busy dealing with contracts for the three RPG studios, Sam had once again been called into emergency service and entrusted with another important task.
Sam mumbled a few sentences in an incredibly thick accent before finally losing all patience and tossing the textbook aside. "Come on... can't we just hire an interpreter?"
"No interpreter is as reliable as knowing the language yourself. What if the person we hire screws us over?"
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit NovelPhoenix for the authentic version.
"I don't care anymore. I can't learn this, so just kill me."
Sam flopped onto the floor. Language really was one of those things that depended heavily on talent.
"Forget about that. Stop worrying about the language and focus on solving the problem I mentioned."
To give himself a reasonable excuse, Ethan had told Sam that he wanted to ride the wave of Japan's booming animation industry and recruit a few exceptionally talented illustrators.
"But what about the language barrier?"
"I've basically learned it already."
"Huh?"
"Anyway..."
Before Ethan could finish speaking, the doorbell suddenly rang. Someone coming to see him at this hour.
Could it be that Vivian's team had finished developing the graphics chip? He opened the door, only to find an unfamiliar face.
The visitor wore a miserable expression and was carrying what appeared to be a rather expensive bottle of wine.
"Hello, Mr. Hayes!"
"Ah, hello. May I ask who you are?"
Ethan looked at the man cautiously. He hadn't received any notice that anyone would be coming to see him.
"I'm Steve, the founder of Electronic Games magazine."
"What the hell?"
The words just escaped Ethan's mouth before he could stop himself. He immediately waved towards Sam, who was still lying around inside the apartment.
"Sam! The guy who we need to beat up has arrived! It's Electronic Games!"
Damn it, Electronic Games had been the ringleader behind all the criticism when Harvest Moon was first released.
It was no exaggeration to say that without them setting the tone, Harvest Moon's reputation wouldn't have taken nearly so long to recover. Every cartridge sitting in storage by the tens of thousands represented real production costs and now the mastermind had shown up at his doorstep on his own!
This was outright provocation! An unforgivable act!
Seeing the two men rolling up their sleeves and advancing on him from both sides, Steve hurriedly explained.
"No, no! Mr. Hayes, I came here today to apologize to you and GAMENOVA!"
He held the bottle of wine high in the air, trying to show that he came in peace.
"?"
Only then did Ethan stop moving and look Steve up and down in confusion. But Sam moved far too quickly to stop. His fist came swinging straight down.
Bang!
...
Steve sat on one side of the single sofa, sporting a swollen black eye as he forced an awkward smile while facing the two of them.
Sam looked equally embarrassed, and for a moment, the atmosphere became exceedingly strange.
"Ahem…"
Steve cleared his throat, deciding to break the ice himself. "Mr. Ethan, Harvest Moon is absolutely a groundbreaking masterpiece. I sincerely apologize for my previous review."
Since Steve had come with such genuine sincerity, Ethan found it difficult to lose his temper.
In fact, before all this, although GAMENOVA and Electronic Games had never known each other personally, they had maintained a good relationship.
Nearly every game the company released had received high praise from the magazine.
When it came to traditional game genres, Electronic Games' reviews had indeed been remarkably objective. They had even served as GAMENOVA's advance force in promoting those games.
"Forget it. At least the players saw the truth. The negative impact from those reports has basically disappeared by now."
Ethan spread his hands, deciding to give Steve a way out.
"I can understand it. After all, when this concept was first proposed, even Sam didn't believe it could succeed."
"Haha..." Steve chuckled awkwardly.
"When I wrote that article, I'd played the game for less than half an hour..."
"I thought it was like every other game, that if it couldn't hook players within the first few minutes, then it wasn't worth anything."
"But I was wrong."
His head lowered unconsciously as genuine shame welled up inside him.
When Electronic Games had first been founded, its mission had been to evaluate games as objectively as possible and provide readers and players with the best firsthand information available.
Yet he had made such a basic mistake, arrogantly judging the game from the perspective of a self-proclaimed veteran gamer, detached from ordinary players, and experiencing its design with an impatient mindset.
"After that, the entire magazine staff and I picked it up again and played it for several days."
"And that's why I've come here in person to apologize."